Ex-Giants Starter Blake Martinez Making Millions From Surprising Source

Blake Martinez was one of the more high-profile casualties when general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll took over the New York Giants in 2022. Their decision to release the middle linebacker last offseason turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Martinez, who is now making millions of dollars from a somewhat surprising source.

Actually, the source may be familiar to some, since Martinez is earning a fortune trading Pokemon cards. The 29-year-old, who played two seasons with the Giants after beginning his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers, formed the highly lucrative Blake’s Breaks back in July, per Megan Sauer of CNBC Make It: “Over the past seven months, it’s brought in more than $5 million in revenue on collectible reselling platform Whatnot, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.”

Martinez went all in on the business after calling time on his playing days last November while a member of the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad:

The Stanford graduate is now focused on making sure some big plans for his card-trading platform come to fruition.

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Blake Martinez Becoming a Collectibles King

Those plans include Martinez’s intention to “open warehouses in Canada and the U.K., and hit $10 million in annual revenue. Then, expand into trading comic books and hit $25 million in revenue.”

The next phase would be to begin selling other collectibles on the Whatnot platform. It’s a process Martinez got underway in March 2020, when he rediscovered the popularity of Pokemon by “buying a couple of boxes of cards for $30,000 — ‘paying a premium to buy vintage packs to try to get my collection back,’ he says. Then, he realized the cards ‘are not 99 cents anymore. There are packs worth like $500,000.'”

It’s a strategy Martinez intends to continue pursuing, not least because it’s easier on his body than life on the gridiron: “Every single day when I wake up, my shoulder doesn’t hurt and my back doesn’t hurt anymore. When all that hurts are my fingers from opening, like, 1,000 packs of cards per day, I think, I’m going to keep doing this.”

Martinez may not miss suiting up on Sundays, but the Giants’ defense has certainly missed his presence at the heart of the front seven.

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Giants Must Fill Gaps at Inside Linebacker in 2023

Releasing Martinez was one of many moves Schoen had to make in order to trim some sizeable salary cap issues he inherited. The GM’s sifting of the roster also included dumping Pro Bowl cornerback James Bradberry.

Martinez was arguably the bigger loss because the Giants toiled at inside linebacker without him. While Martinez tallied 151 tackles in 2020, a torn ACL took him out of the lineup early the following season and his Giants’ career never recovered.

Without Martinez, the Giants have since relied on veteran retreads like Jaylon Smith and Jarrad Davis. Smith made 11 starts, but struggled at times, particularly in pass coverage, where he allowed a 100.0 rating and 132 yards after the catch, per Pro Football Reference.

The former Dallas Cowboys’ starter also had his issues against the run, with Smith often getting lost in traffic, the way he did on this play against the Detroit Lions, highlighted by NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger:

Both Smith and Davis are free agents, along with safeties Tony Jefferson and Landon Collins, who also played linebacker at times last season. What the Giants need is a superior athlete at the position, preferably one with true sideline-to-sideline range and aggressive, downhill instincts.

Having $43.1 million worth of room under the salary cap means Schoen is free to pursue a proven playmaker in free agency and still add to the depth chart via this year’s draft.

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